WILLIAM RUSSELL
COMPLETE ORGAN VOLUNTARIES
JOHN KITCHEN
THE ORGAN OF ST JAMES’S CHURCH BERMONDSEY
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WILLIAM RUSSELL
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COMPLETE ORGAN VOLUNTARIES JOHN KITCHEN THE ORGAN OF ST JAMES’S CHURCH BERMONDSEY, LONDON (J.C. BISHOP, ����)
Twelve Voluntaries (1804)
Voluntary VII in E flat
1 Maestoso – [1:42]
2 Andante maestoso [4:46]
3 Siciliano – [1:26]
4 Fugue: Allegro [5:51]
Voluntary I in C
5 Adagio – [2:14]
6 Spirituoso [2:44]
7 Gratioso – [1:19]
8 Allegro moderato [2:56]
Voluntary II in F
9 Andantino – [3:18]
10 Allegretto [2:54]
Voluntary IX in A minor
11 Largo – [1:57]
12 Fugue: Allegro [3:10]
Voluntary IV in D
13 Adagio [3:33]
14 Siciliano [4:43]
Voluntary X in G minor
15 Larghetto – [0:47]
16 Fugue: Allegretto [3:45]
Voluntary III in G
17 Larghetto – [1:12]
18 Allegretto [3:43]
Voluntary XI in E minor
19 Largo – [2:54]
20 Fugue: Allegro [3:23]
21 Andantino [1:22]
Voluntary V in D minor
22 Largo – [1:38]
23 Allegretto [3:55]
Total playing time [65:27]
Recorded on 22-25 July 2008 in
St James’s Church, Bermondsey
Console assistant: Simon Daniels
Producer & Engineer: Adam Binks
Executive producer: Paul Baxter
24-bit digital editing: Adam Binks
24-bit digital mastering: Paul Baxter
Photography © Delphian Records
Photograph editing: Raymond Parks
Design: John Christ
Booklet editor: John Fallas
Delphian Records Ltd – Edinburgh – UK
www.delphianrecords.co.uk
With thanks to the Rev Stewart Hartley, Dr Gillian Ward Russell, Pat Connor, Dominic Gwynn and Martin Goetze
This recording project is supported by a grant from the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
CD1
Voluntary VI in F
1 Largo – [1:52]
2 Allegretto [3:13]
Voluntary VIII in B flat
3 Largo – [2:26]
4 Andantino [4:10]
5 Andantino – [0:42]
6 Fugue: Allegro [2:53]
Voluntary XII in C minor/major
7 Adagio – [1:32]
8 Maestoso [3:02]
9 March [2:13]
10 Largo – [1:46]
11 Fugue [5:07]
Twelve Voluntaries (1812)
Voluntary IX in B flat
12 Maestoso – [1:44]
13 Allegro [5:23]
Voluntary II in C
14 Largo – [3:40]
15 Allegretto [5:25]
Voluntary I in E minor
16 Larghetto – [1:43]
17 Maestoso – [4:12]
18 Largo maestoso [2:18]
Voluntary X in G
19 Largo maestoso – [0:59]
20 Fuga Alla Capella [4:55]
— The Subject from Haydn
Voluntary III in D
21 Larghetto [2:04]
22 Spiritoso – Largo – [3:41]
23 Maestoso [2:47]
Total playing time [68:01]
Voluntary IV in A minor
1 Largo – [2:01]
2 Allegro [3:49]
Voluntary V in F
3 Larghetto – [1:50]
4 Allegretto – [4:43]
5 Fugato: Spiritoso [2:22]
Voluntary XI in D minor/major
6 Larghetto – [1:58]
7 Fuga: Allegro [5:05]
Voluntary VII in A
8 Siciliano – [2:55]
9 Allegretto moderato [3:32]
Voluntary VIII in B minor
10 Largo maestoso – [1:08]
11 Fuga Alla Capella [3:29]
Voluntary VI in E flat
12 Andantino – [2:28]
13 Andante vivace – [3:38]
14 A tempo Giusto [2:27]
Voluntary XII in C
15 Largo maestoso – [1:41]
16 Fuga: Moderato [4:36]
Voluntary in G (unpublished)
17 Largo – [1:55]
18 Fugue [Allegro] [3:26]
Total playing time [53:14]
CD2
CD3
William Russell’s organ voluntaries are still relatively little known, yet they offer much of interest. Russell published his first set of Twelve Voluntaries for the Organ or Pianoforte in London in 1804 by subscription; 227 subscribers are listed, including many well-known musical figures of the day: the brothers Samuel and Charles Wesley, Samuel Webbe, William Crotch, Charles Burney and Matthew Camidge. When he came to publish his second set of Twelve Voluntaries in 1812, Russell had no need of subscribers, as the success of the first volume had been considerable and his reputation was secure. The engraving of the second volume is more elegant than that of the first, with decorative borders on every page and a clearer typeface. Each was published at a cost of 10/6.
Russell (1777-1813) came from a London family of organists and organ-builders. He was a son of the organ builder Hugh Russell and deputised for his father from the age of 11. He subsequently played at Great Queen Street Chapel, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, then at St Mary Aldermary; in 1798 he was appointed organist at St Anne’s Limehouse, and in 1801 at the Foundling Hospital Chapel (with which Handel had been famously associated in his day). Significantly, both of these establishments boasted particularly fine, colourful organs. Russell was interested in the latest developments in organ tone
and design at a crucial and fascinating time in the development of the English organ. Within one week of taking up his duties at the Foundling Hospital Chapel, he was requesting improvements to the organ; shortly afterwards he asked for a complete overhaul and additional stops. Following an endorsement of Russell’s suggestions by Thomas Attwood, organist of St Paul’s Cathedral, William’s father Hugh was commissioned to undertake this work.1 As well as his church duties, Russell worked as pianist and composer at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre; the influence of opera and theatrical music can be strongly felt in some of the voluntaries. He died at the early age of 36, barely two years after the publication of the second set of voluntaries, and one can only speculate as to how his career and musical style might have developed had he lived longer. In 1814 The Monthly Magazine published an obituary stating that: ‘As a performer of the pianoforte and organ he has few equals.’
Russell’s music fascinatingly blends, or sometimes simply juxtaposes, several disparate musical influences. In many respects these pieces are in the long tradition of English voluntaries by Stanley, Greene, Boyce, Walond, Nares, Keeble and many others, and demonstrate a characteristic English gift for fresh, elegant melody.
Handelian grandeur is sensed in the confident gestures of opening movements. We are also reminded of the eccentric musical language of Russell’s contemporary and friend Samuel Wesley (1766-1837). Russell’s unbounded admiration for Mozart and Haydn is manifest (Russell uses a Haydn fugue subject in Voluntary X of the second set and his fugues owe something to Haydn in their manner of cumulative growth); he obviously knew the music of Dussek and other contemporaries; and the use of early Romantic harmonic language suggests that he had heard Weber. Sometimes Russell seems even to anticipate Mendelssohn, whose Six Sonatas of 1845 follow the English voluntary tradition in some respects, and were indeed originally commissioned from him as ‘voluntaries’ by the London publisher, Coventry & Hollier.
Russell gives unusually precise performance instructions, and obviously had clear ideas of how he wanted his pieces to be played. Almost all movements bear tempo indications, including unusually nuanced instructions such as andante maestoso and andante vivace. Ornamentation is copious and carefully marked, with ubiquitous use of the fashionable turn which had become so much part of late eighteenth-century melodic style. Russell indicates phrasing extensively, and seems to have been partial to cross-beat phrasing: generally alien to Baroque music,
but increasingly embraced by composers from C.P. E. Bach onwards. Most late eighteenthcentury composers of voluntaries indicated their intended registrations in some detail – amateur organists no doubt welcomed such assistance – but Russell was particularly precise. All the standard registrations are found, such as ‘diapasons’ which always meant the open and stopped 8’ diapasons together; ‘full organ’ generally indicates the complete chorus to mixture on the great, possibly including a tierce mixture (or sesquialtera) and also the trumpet (Russell occasionally asks for ‘full organ without the trumpet’). The performer today, however, is still faced with certain decisions. For example, Russell (and his contemporaries) often indicate ‘swell’ without specifying which stops to draw; sometimes this is obvious, but not always. Solo stops and stop-combinations specified by Russell include the traditional cornet, hautboy, trumpet, cremona as well as the more exotic French horn; when Russell writes for the cornet, a stop which was beginning to lose favour by the early years of the nineteenth century, the style is more retrospective.
Like much keyboard music, Russell’s voluntaries sound at their best when played on an appropriate contemporary instrument. As already noted, the two organs that he regularly played had a wealth of colour, and
Notes on the music
reflected some of the then forward-looking ideas in early nineteenth-century organ design. Although dating from 16 years after Russell’s death, the recently restored 1829 Bishop organ in St James’s, Bermondsey in London is one of the most appropriate extant instruments on which to perform this music, offering ideal choruses, solo registers and fine examples of those early nineteenth-century English diapasons which are fundamental to this music. The Bermondsey organ has all the solo stops (including a French horn) and stop-combinations asked for by Russell. (One unusual feature is that the swell cornet contains no tierce rank.) The manual compass on the great and choir is down to GG, allowing the player to follow Russell’s notation exactly, without having to resort to using occasional 16’ pedal notes for the lowest notes as one must on a modern organ. Russell intended players to make full use of the swell pedal, at that time a relatively new device. This is underlined by the fact that he occasionally instructs against its use, requiring the division to be used in its earlier manifestation as an echo.
Most significantly, the Bermondsey organ boasts a two-octave pedal board which is essential for the performance of certain pieces; Russell seems to have been the first English composer to write independent parts for organ pedals. Often the pedals
are used as a third hand, to enable fuller chords to be played by the hands; sometimes (as in the very first Voluntary) double-pedalling in octaves is required. But at times the pedal line is totally independent, resulting in a true trio texture. This is first seen in Voluntary VII (1804), and again in Voluntary II (1812); in the latter case Russell notates for the first time on three staves [see MS page printed towards end of this booklet].2 Bermondsey’s pedal arrangements represent a later stage of development than St Anne’s Limehouse and the Foundling Hospital, in that there are three independent ranks of pedal pipes as well as pedal couplers; Russell’s organs had only pedal pull-downs. In performing this music at Bermondsey, I have employed various solutions, sometimes coupling, sometimes using the pedal ranks independently; I have freely used the double diapason and trombone ranks for pedal-points and for final cadences, as I believe this is in the spirit of the music. The large-scale pedal double diapason, although described as a 16’ stop, extends down to GG and so enters the 32’ octave, adding unusual weight and sonority. Russell, with his interest in the latest developments in organ design, would I hope have approved of its use. (Had he lived to the age of 52, he might well have played the Bermondsey organ himself, and I cannot imagine that he would have eschewed these innovative pedal ranks!)
As with some of Thomas Parker’s other organs, Russell’s Foundling Hospital instrument was enharmonic, containing four extra pipes in each octave to give pure thirds (for example, E–G , A –C).3 There is no such provision at Bermondsey, where the temperament is approximately 1/5 -comma meantone (a system described by the organ builder Bishop). For most of Russell’s music this poses no difficulty, although the major third F –A in certain pieces (e.g. Voluntary XI, 1804) sounds rather pungent. While it is true that the Foundling Hospital organ would have offered pure thirds in such instances, the large majority of organs on which Russell’s music would have been played did not have the extra pipes, and so probably sounded much as on this recording.
Some aspects of the Bermondsey organ represent the latest technological advances of the time and were to an extent experimental (see Dominic Gwynn’s note on the history of the organ for further information). Russell’s music shares the same sense of adventure; the fact that different musical styles rub shoulders is symptomatic of that period in English music, and results in a fascinating if occasionally slightly odd mix. Music and organ complement each other perfectly.
1 For this, and for much other information about Russell and his voluntaries, I am indebted to the following sources:
Gillian Ward Russell, William Russell and the Foundling Hospital (1801-1813 ), MPhil thesis, CNAA 1985
Gillian Ward Russell, William Russell (1777-1813 ): an enquiry into his musical style, PhD thesis, University of Leicester 1994
There is also much interesting information in the preface to Dr Ward Russell’s facsimile edition of the voluntaries (1991).
2 Gillian Ward Russell notes that Carl Baumgarten, organist of the Lutheran Chapel in the Savoy (and a subscriber to Russell’s first volume), published the first voluntaries in England to use three staves in 1783-4. As a German organist, Baumgarten would have been well acquainted with pedals.
3 An extant example is the Thomas Parker chamber organ of c.1765 in the Raymond Russell Collection of Early Keyboard Instruments, University of Edinburgh (www.music.ed.ac.uk/russell/).
© 2008 John KitchenNotes on the music
Twelve Voluntaries (1804) CD1
1-4 Voluntary VII in E flat
This substantial work is in four linked movements, forming a satisfying and varied suite. The grand opening maestoso, with its insistent dotted rhythms, is immediately arresting, and prepares for the imaginative trumpet solo movement which follows. Such movements were traditionally in C or D, but this is in the key of E flat. (Haydn’s celebrated trumpet concerto in that key was written in 1796; did Russell know it?) A gentle C minor siciliano on the choir organ leads directly into an energetic fugue. Russell’s fugues are always fluent and melodically appealing, if sometimes prone to repetitive sequences and over-reliance on tension built up by dominant pedals. Nevertheless, this is a fine movement, building up effectively.
5-8 Voluntary I in C
Although later diapason movements extend the idiom, this example places Russell firmly in the eighteenth-century tradition (compare John Stanley’s Op. 7 no. 5, and William Boyce’s Voluntary VIII from his Ten Voluntaries). It follows the well-established
procedure described by Blewitt in his Treatise on the Organ:
The style of writing for diapasons has hitherto been in one manner, namely, by beginning at the extreme or lower part of the Bass, and by climbing, if the expression may be excused, Chord by Chord to the upper part of the Instrument.1
The other movements follow established traditions to some extent, but also demonstrate Russell’s expansion of the idioms: a brisk spirituoso movement for solo great trumpet (in the trumpet key of C), contrasted with the swell trumpet, and a tender gratioso movement on the swell (registration unspecified). The finale of this four-movement voluntary is a grand postlude which illustrates some of Russell’s characteristic traits: a late eighteenth-century harmonic language coloured by appoggiaturas and chromatic passing notes, cross-phrasing, and an invigorating optimism.
9-10 Voluntary II in F
This two-movement work is to be played entirely on the choir organ, and begins with an elegant and graceful andantino in triple time. The allegretto which follows has once again an air of sunny optimism and an attractive melodic fluency.
11-12 Voluntary IX in A minor
The sharply-dotted opening prelude is powerful, but gives way to a smoother, more lyrical passage which prepares for the fugue. Its striding subject, clearly outlining the tonic triad, is reminiscent of such melodic subjects by Stanley and others; here Russell does not over-stretch his material, and writes a taut and well-crafted movement.
13-14 Voluntary IV in D
This two-movement voluntary, with its sighing figures, rococo ornamentation and suave elegance, leaves ‘Baroque’ styles far behind, and adopts contemporary secular idioms from the operatic stage. The affective and sinuously chromatic adagio is complete in itself (not ending with the more usual halfclose). In the siciliano, to quote Gillian Ward Russell, ‘the listener is transported to the theatre or pleasure garden’. It highlights solos for the swell hautboy and choir cremona in alternation; they are like two characters on stage. After a showy cadenza on the hautboy and an increasingly ornamented melodic line, the two solos eventually move in parallel thirds and sixths, like a pair of operatic lovers – although the hautboy has the final word. Decorum is restored by a short postlude on the diapasons.
15-16 Voluntary X in G minor
The short larghetto, to some extent reminiscent of the prelude in Voluntary IX above, sets the scene for a vigorous fugue whose fine subject makes much of the interval of a seventh, and which is skilfully and pleasingly developed.
17-18
Voluntary III in G
The opening larghetto is the first of several such movements registered for the full swell; in Voluntary IV (1812) Russell spells out exactly what he means by ‘full swell’ (see note on Registrations below). The musical idiom might suggest to present-day players a gentler registration, yet his instructions are unequivocal in terms of the early nineteenthcentury English organ. Nevertheless, I have taken the liberty in this movement of omitting the trumpet, although the hautboy is present; the effect can be contrasted with the first movement of Voluntary VI (1804), where the trumpet is included. A sprightly cornet solo follows, contrasting great and swell cornets as was traditional. Entirely untraditional, however, is Russell’s decision to write ‘a la Pollacca’ – in the style of a polonaise, a fashionable dance in early nineteenth-century piano music. I know of no other example in contemporary organ music.
Notes on the music
This is one of several voluntaries to close with a few slow chords on the great diapasons. These endings can sound redundant to modern ears, but Blewitt explains their purpose: I will here presume to add that in the very same manner should every piece of Music, that has a Presto movement, be concluded. It brings back that solemnity of mind which such a volatile air has permitted to sport with too much for the dignity of Church or Cathedral Service.2
19-21 Voluntary XI in E minor
The prelude opens imposingly, on full organ, with grand semibreve chords and dramatic silences; this material alternates with majestic dotted writing. The fugue subject is lyrical, with Russell’s customary real answer (‘correct’ fugal procedure would require a tonal answer); the movement unfolds confidently, and towards the close returns effectively to a sequence of grand chords, recalling those of the prelude. As mentioned above, the unequal temperament of the Bermondsey organ lends a striking pungency to this work, since the A sharps and D sharps are closer to B flats and E flats. The work closes with a short and gentle andantino in the tonic major, here played on the choir diapasons. (The plan of
this voluntary – grand opening, fugue, relaxed final movement – interestingly anticipates Mendelssohn’s Sonata no. 3 in A, published 40 years later.)
22-23 Voluntary V in D minor
This is the second of the cornet voluntaries in the 1804 set. A customary slow diapason movement leads into a characteristically lively and lavishly ornamented cornet solo, echoed on the swell; for contrast, the central passage is played on the choir 4’ flute alone. As in Voluntary III above, a few final bars for the diapasons recall the ‘solemnity’ of the opening.
CD2
1-2
The largo features a melody-andaccompaniment texture similar to that in the opening movement of Voluntary III, and is again played on the full swell (here with the trumpet). The allegretto features the exotic French horn stop; neither of the organs presided over by Russell had this stop, and, like Stanley in his Voluntary in F, Op. 7 no. 6, he specifies ‘diapasons’ as an alternative. The Bermondsey French horn, while not unlike the swell trumpet, is of rounder tone, and this is enhanced by the addition of diapasons.
Characteristic horn-call figures in fifths and thirds abound; as in a number of Russell’s voluntaries, contrast is provided in the central section by a 4’ flute solo.
3-6 Voluntary VIII in B flat
A traditional diapasons movement prepares for another elegant duet alternating the swell hautboy and the choir cremona. However, at two points in the piece the texture becomes a true trio: right hand on cremona, left hand on hautboy, and independent bass on the pedals. After all this ingratiating elegance, and a short bridging andantino on the swell, Russell launches into a vigorous, Haydnesque double fugue, somewhat reminiscent of ‘Achieved is the glorious work’ from The Creation.
7-11 Voluntary XII in C minor/major
This is a substantial suite in five sections: adagio, maestoso, march, largo and fugue. It opens in sombre C minor mood, the adagio for diapasons setting the scene for a dignified solo trumpet movement (still in C minor) with echoes on the swell trumpet. Particularly striking is the march, with its ominous dotted figures in octaves (masonic symbolism?), sudden forte /piano contrasts, mysterious chromatic passages and a strong sense of drama. Surely it was inspired by The Magic
Flute, which Russell must have known: it is strongly reminiscent of the passage in the same key towards the end of that opera, featuring the Two Armed Men. This dark mood is dispelled in the sudden tonic major of the largo, played on full organ in majestic style, which then leads into a fugue built upon an extraordinary whole-tone subject. Russell treats this with great inventiveness; although the movement is arguably overlong, with too many dominant pedals, it is nevertheless extremely invigorating.
2 Ibid.
Notes on the music
Voluntary VI in F
1 Jonas Blewitt, A Complete Treatise on the Organ to which is added a set of Explanatory Voluntaries composed expressly for the purpose of rendering Theory and Practice subservient to mutual elucidation (c.1795).
Twelve Voluntaries (1812)
12-13
Voluntary IX in B flat
This follows the familiar pattern of a dotted opening maestoso (here repeated) and a fugue. The latter is quite similar to the B flat fugue (Voluntary VIII) of 1804: again it is a double fugue, and even more reminiscent of Haydn’s ‘Achieved is the glorious work’. It is however more extended, with two dramatic pauses (where cadenzas may be inserted or stops added); following the second of these pauses, the concluding section drives to the final cadence with exhilarating energy.
14-15
Voluntary II in C
Both movements of this remarkable and very secular-sounding work are notated on three staves, with an independent pedal part for much of the time. Gillian Ward Russell views it as ‘experimental’, and sees in it a move towards Romantic freedom in form and style. The largo begins with the swell hautboy unusually accompanied by the great diapasons; after two phrases, even more surprisingly, the hands are reversed and the hautboy accompanies the diapasons which then assume a melodic role. (At Bermondsey this necessitated some manipulation of the swell shutters in order to achieve a successful
balance.) The movement continues to alternate the hands in this way, and there is some showy writing for the hautboy, with cadenzas, flourishes and so on. The allegretto retains this registration, but additionally introduces the choir cremona which engages in much duetting with the hautboy, like a pair of orchestral instruments. The movement continues (perhaps for too long) in an elaborate, ornamented style, but contains some modulatory and other surprises.
16-18 Voluntary I in E minor
An elegantly wistful introduction on the diapasons paves the way for a trumpet solo movement in the unusual key of E minor, with swell alternating. Here, as often, the precise stops on the swell are unspecified, but the swell is to accompany the great trumpet, and for the echoes Russell instructs that both hands are to play on the swell. It is unlikely, therefore, that the swell trumpet should be included, since that would not provide an effective accompaniment; here the swell diapasons and 4’ principal are used. Russell also instructs:
As the Swell in this & the �d Voluntary is intended as an Echo to the Trumpet it is requested the [swell] Pedal may not be used.
The concluding largo maestoso is in the tonic major, and its gentle Wesleyan style seems strangely at odds with the instruction ‘full organ’. Here it is played on a chorus of 8’, 4’ and 2’ stops only.
up the triadic trumpet idea, but also explores some chromatic writing, most notably in the final bars. CD3
19-20 Voluntary X in G
Another grand Handelian opening sets the scene for one of Russell’s finest fugues, based on a subject borrowed from Haydn (and acknowledged as such, no doubt as an act of homage, in the score). Haydn treats it effectively if rather perfunctorily in his Stabat Mater; Russell’s treatment is far more extended and contains some dramatic moments, such as an arresting move to the tonic minor before the final section.
21-23 Voluntary III in D
The quasi-fugal diapasons movement is complete in itself, ending with a perfect cadence rather than the customary half-close. The trumpet solo, in the traditional key of D, strides magnificently up and down the tonic triad. Contrast is again provided by a central episode played on the choir 4’ flute; this one is an elaborate passage of running semiquavers and other figurations which would be appropriate for an orchestral flute or recorder. The final full organ maestoso takes
1-2 Voluntary IV in A minor
Like Voluntaries III and VI from the first volume, this work opens with a lyrical melody accompanied by repeated chords and is registered for full swell. (See note on Registrations below for Russell’s very precise instructions.) The lively cornet solo is typical of the genre; again there is a central flute episode, and a final section on the diapasons.
3-5 Voluntary V in F
The gracious larghetto movement prepares for another elegant movement featuring the cremona and hautboy. A short diapasons interlude leads into a concise and spirited fugato.
6-7 Voluntary XI in D minor/major
Unlike many of the introductory preludes, the musical interest here is melodic rather than rhythmic. Although played throughout on full organ, Russell creates contrast by alternating sections where the bass is played in octaves (utilizing the full compass of the
Notes on the music
GG bass) with episodes of a lighter texture. The D minor of the prelude is transformed to D major in the triple-time fugue, which is extensive, tonally adventurous and ends with a great peroration (written on three staves) which again perhaps owes something to Haydn’s oratorio choruses.
8-9 Voluntary VII in A
This pastoral two-movement work begins with a siciliano to which the trumpet and hautboy together lend a robust rustic flavour. The allegretto moderato, played on the light choir chorus, is beautifully poised and elegant.
10-11 Voluntary VIII in B minor
This brief prelude reverts to the familiar dotted rhythmic style, and is followed by a well-wrought if rather predictable fugue.
12-14 Voluntary VI in E flat
The andantino contrasts great and swell diapasons, and is thus an interesting development of the usual great-only introductory movement. This is followed by another movement for the French horn, here contrasted with the cremona in lyrical mode; Russell was interested in exploring as much colouristic variety as possible. Towards the end of the movement the
cremona has a cadenza which covers the range, with arpeggios and passagework, of an orchestral clarinet. The final movement is quasi-fugal and in a bracing tempo giusto style; again Russell explores some arresting chromatic moves towards the close.
15-16 Voluntary XII in C
The prelude borrows pianistic idioms, some of which transfer better to the organ than others. Gillian Ward Russell has pointed out its remarkable similarity to Dussek’s Piano Sonata in B flat, Op. 24. It certainly inhabits a different world from the rest of Russell’s introductory preludes. The concise C major fugue subject flirts with the subdominant by introducing a B flat, appealingly colouring the whole movement; this is a strong fugue, and a fitting close to Russell’s second volume.
17-18 Voluntary in G
This unpublished work has been edited from the original manuscript, which is rather sketchy in places, by Dr Gillian Ward Russell, and is included here with her permission. While the opening largo is rather weak, the fugue is tuneful, vigorous and attractive.
© 2008 John Kitchen
Notes on the music
Built in 1829 by James Bishop, the organ at St James’s, Bermondsey was one of the largest organs in the country, in one of the largest new churches, and for a long time had the most complete pedal organ, as well as other innovations either unique or highly unusual. It is today the earliest and most complete surviving large church organ in the UK, apart from the 1821 Lincoln organ at Thaxted, which awaits restoration. Compared to the 1821 organ, this 1829 model is more advanced. It has louder and smoother sounds. The principal chorus has larger pipe scales, especially in the bass, with more variety amongst the open diapasons and dulciana. The stopped diapasons are actually open wood clarabellas on the Great and Choir, again with a louder and smoother treble sound. The manual reeds have the earliest surviving closed shallots in the Romantic style, again to produce a smoother sound. There is for the first time a choice of pedal stops. For more expressive playing there was a larger swell box than before, Bishop’s new composition pedals on the Great and a shifting movement on the Swell for rapid changes of registration, and, for the first time, a complete set of manual and pedal couplers.
The alterations after 1829 were few, thanks to the relative poverty of the church after about 1850. Bishops made some alterations in 1877, including turning a GG organ into a C organ
(the lowest five pipes in each rank being removed). The pedalboard was replaced with a conventional modern one in 1877 and again in 1975, though not the rollerboard taking the pedal action to the couplers and to the ‘finger’ pedalboard (and thence to the rollerboard and the pedal chests). The stop knobs and their stop labels had also been replaced in 1877.
The organ spent the second half of the twentieth century either unused or in partial use, after being disarranged during the Second World War. It was partly dismantled by an organ enthusiast in the early 1960s, and some of the middle-sized metal pipes from the Great and Choir organs were pilfered for scrap. The gaps in the Great were supplied by Bishop pipes of a similar vintage in 1975, when Bishops restored the Great organ. In the 1990s, when a major restoration enabled by the Heritage Lottery Fund was in prospect, the Great was once again in use, though without reversing the 1877 alterations, so that it still had a C key compass, modern pitch and equal temperament, and altered mixtures.
When the team of Martin Goetze and Dominic Gwynn started their work in 2001 to restore the organ as close as possible to its 1829 condition, the task seemed formidable. The swell pipes were leaning over and collapsing. The organ was dirty, suffering from some corrosion, splits in the bellows and the
wooden pipes, degraded leather, etc. Not only was this an organ of some size, in the upper gallery of a large church, but the rest of the instrument was still partly dismantled, with pipes and mechanical parts lying around in boxes, piled on and between the wind chests or strewn around the unused spaces at the west end of the church galleries. It was all the more difficult to make sense of them and their purpose, but also to work out what was original. Some of Bishop’s work in 1829 was a prototype for later work, and could not be understood by reference to other organs of similar date. Indeed, it became apparent that very few church organs by J.C. Bishop survive, and none with a surviving console. The best evidence for the parts of the console which had been replaced in 1877 and 1975 was to be found in the large finger-and-barrel organ at The Argory in Ulster (1824), and in two large chamber organs, now in the churches at Kinlet in Shropshire (c.1835) and at Atherington in Devon (1850). The information culled from these organs was combined with the traces in the organ itself to supply the design for the console as it now is; it must be very close to the original arrangement.
Fortunately, the organ itself answered most of the questions. Most of the organ could be restored using ordinary workshop skills, re-leathering pallets, plugging and re-drilling
The organ: history and restoration
holes for loose pins, replacing the hide inserts in the roller arms, making new bass pipes to each rank, etc. The missing pipes could all be replaced with new ones based on the surviving 1829 pipes. The pitch and tuning were provided by the swell pipes, which had not been altered in 1877 or in 1975 and appeared to have original lengths. It is a modified form of the (approximately 1/5 -comma meantone) system described by Bishop in a notebook he started in 1807. The profile of the pedal keys was based on those surviving at Atherington, but the spacing and the unexpected position was based on the surviving pedal coupler rollerboard frame, and the cut-out in the console doors. The Great and Swell keys were based on the Choir keys, which had never been altered or removed, with the ends designed to receive the surviving couplers (these, the oldest complete set surviving, had simply been adapted to the new keys when the key compass was changed in 1877, and could now be transferred to the new GG keys).
Sometimes the repair work was especially challenging. This was partly because Bishop had found the work challenging himself, so that although the separate parts were made to a high standard in his workshop, the assembly in the church presented him with problems. Probably all-too-familiar time pressures had played a part here. A graffito
under the pedal chest (the first piece to be placed in the organ) gives the date ‘February 1829’, and the opening service was in April, so that this large organ was assembled for the first time in two months. The pedal key and stop actions show signs of struggle by the 1829 organ builders, and only careful adjustment makes the systems practical. The same was true of the stop action to the couplers, which are all operated from the stop knobs. They look as if they have been added one at a time, using a different design for each one. They were re-used and adapted to the 1877 keyboards. Returning them to their original condition, and making them work well using all the original parts, was a particular challenge. The three composition pedals on the Great were more or less the same as they were to be in many later Victorian organs; they merely required repairs to the pivots and exact positioning of the felted blocks. But the shifting movement (or ‘piano movement’) on the swell was a unique example, only partially surviving. It required some ingenuity to work out its operation and patience in adjustment. Unfortunately it is easily upset by the organist, rendering the swell organ unusable, so its use by visiting organists is discouraged.
new factory in Lisson Grove, no doubt with money earned from this Bermondsey project.
The organ is a wonderful survival, and illuminates a period of music when church music was becoming more elaborate, classical forms were being expanded for greater expressive content, and the music of J.S. Bach was being explored for the first time in Great Britain.
Martin Goetze and Dominic GwynnWelbeck, 16 August 2008
The new nameplate was based on that at The Argory, since it gives Bishop’s address during the making of the Bermondsey organ, though by the end of the year he had moved to his
Black-and-white photographs show the condition of the Bermondsey organ pre-restoration.
The organ: history and restoration
Specification
Great organ (GG to f3)
Open Diapason, larger scale 8 [OD1 ]
Open Diapason, smaller scale 8 [OD2 ]
Stopt Diapason 8 [SD ]
Principal 4 [Prin ]
Twelfth 2 2/3 [Tw ]
Fifteenth 2 [Fif ]
Sexquialtra III [Sex ]
Mixture II [Mix ]
Trumpet 8 [Trum ]
Clarion 4 [Clar ]
Choir organ (GG to f3)
Open Diapason 8 [OD ]
Stopt Diapason 8 [SD ]
Dulciana (G) 8 [Dul ]
Principal 4 [Prin ]
Flute 4 [Fl ]
Fifteenth 2 [Fif ]
Cremona/Bassoon 8 [Crem ]
Swell organ (G to f3)
Open Diapason, larger scale 8 [OD1 ]
Open Diapason, smaller scale 8 [OD2 ]
Stopt Diapason 8 [SD ]
Principal 4 [Prin ]
Cornet V [Cor ]
French Horn 8 [Fr horn ]
Trumpet 8 [Trum ]
Oboe 8 [Ob ]
Pedal organ (GG to g)
Double diapason 16 [DD ]
Unisons [diapason] 8 [Unis ]
Trombone 8 [Trom ]
Couplers: Swell [to] Great [Sw/Gt ]
Swell [to] Choir [Sw/Ch]
Choir [to] Great [Ch/Gt ]
Great [to] Pedals [Gt/Ped ]
Choir [to] Pedals [Ch/Ped ]
3 composition pedals to Great Organ (Full Great, Great without reeds, Diapasons)
Reversing shifting movement pedal for shutting off all Swell Organ stops except the diapasons
Swell pedal (louvre swell shutters, ratchet for open position)
Pitch: 432Hz at 15°C
Wind pressure 25/8 inches (67mm). The manual bellows is in the base of the organ, the pedal bellows in a room at the side, where the blower or blowers can operate both. Bishop’s estimate for an organ in 1827 included:
The Bellows to feed double with Compensation fold for evenness of Pressure [i.e. with two folds, one inverted], Inside Waste Valves for Silence, my Improved Horizontal Valves and all my recent Improvements for Steadiness of wind.
The second of the Great and Swell Open Diapasons are a smaller scale than the first. The Choir Dulciana is smaller again.
The Great and Choir Stopped Diapasons and the Choir Flute are stopped in the bass, and clarabellas (open flutes) in the treble from c1 upwards. The Swell Stopped Diapason is stopped throughout with pierced stoppers in the treble.
The Choir Bassoon stop is from G – d°; the Cremona from d#° - f3. However, the pipes change shape (and sound) between b° and c1. Apart from the Pedal Trombone all the reeds have closed shallots, i.e. the face has a brass sheet soldered to it, in which a rectangular hole is cut.
The Pedal pipes are all open, so the unison pipes are 8ft and the double are 16ft, extending to GG in the 32ft octave. They are very wide-scale. There is a separate bellows for the Pedal organ.
Registrations
Russell’s tempo markings and registration instructions are listed below in serifed font ; the stops listed in italic font indicate the specific registrations chosen at Bermondsey.
Twelve Voluntaries (1804)
CD1
1-4 Voluntary VII in E flat
MAESTOSO: Full Organ
Great OD1, OD2, SD, Prin, Tw, Fif, Sex, Mix, Trum, Clar; Pedal DD, Unis, Gt/Ped
ANDANTE MAESTOSO: Swell both hands;
Trumpet; Choir Bass
Swell OD2, SD, Prin; Great OD1, Trum; Choir SD, Fl at bar 78 Swell add Ob; Choir SD, Fl (LH bars 101-108 only)
SICILIANO: S. Diapason and Flute Choir Organ
Choir SD, Fl (withdraw Fl for repeat)
FUGUE — ALLEGRO: [no indication ]
Great OD1, OD2, SD, Prin, Tw, Fif, Mix; Pedal Unis, Gt/Ped at bar 77 Great + Sex, Pedal + DD at bar 91 Great + Trum, Clar
Flute Bass; Swell
Great Trum, OD2; Choir SD, Fl; Swell Trum, OD2
GRATIOSO: Swell
Swell OD2, SD
ALLEGRO MODERATO: Full Organ
Great OD1, OD2, SD, Prin, Tw, Fif, Sex, Mix, Tr
Pedal DD, Unis, Gt/Ped
9-10 Voluntary II in F
ANDANTINO: S. Diapason and Principal
Choir Organ
Choir SD, Prin, Ch/Ped
ALLEGRETTO: S. Diapason, Principal and Fifteenth Choir
Choir SD, Prin, Fif
11-12 Voluntary IX in A minor
LARGO: Full Organ
Great OD1, SD, Prin, Tw, Fif, Trum
FUGUE — ALLEGRO: [no indication ]
Great OD1, SD, Prin, Tw, Fif, Mix
13-14 Voluntary IV in D
ADAGIO: Diapasons
Great OD2, SD; Choir OD, SD (for repeat)
15-16 Voluntary X in G minor
LARGHETTO: Full Organ
Great OD1, SD, Prin, Tw, Fif, Sex, Mix; Pedal Unis, Gt/Ped
FUGUE — ALLEGRETTO: [no indication ]
Great OD1, SD, Prin, Tw, Fif, Mix; Pedal DD, Unis, Gt/Ped at bar 136 Great + Sex
17-18 Voluntary III in G
LARGHETTO: Full Swell
Swell OD1, SD, Prin, Cor, Ob
ALLEGRETTO: Cornet a la Pollacca; S.
Diapason & Flute Choir Bass; Swell cornet
Great SD, Prin, Sex; Choir SD, Fl; Swell SD, Prin, Cor
final LARGO: Diapasons
Great OD1, OD2, SD
19-21 Voluntary XI in E minor
LARGO: Full Organ
OD1, SD, Prin, Tw, Fif, Sex, Mix, Trum, Clar; Pedal DD, Unis, Gt/Ped
FUGUE — ALLEGRO: [no indication ]
OD1, SD, Prin, Tw, Fif; Pedal Unis, Gt/Ped
5-8 Voluntary I in C
ADAGIO: Diapasons
Great OD1, SD; Pedal Unis, Gt/Ped
SPIRITUOSO: Trumpet; S. Diapason and
SICILIANO: Solo Hautboy Swell, S. Diapason; Bass Great Organ, Cremona Choir
Swell SD, Ob; Great SD; Choir SD, Crem
final bars: Two Diapasons Great Organ
Great OD2, SD
ANDANTINO: Diapasons
Choir OD, SD
Registrations
22-23 Voluntary V in D minor
LARGO: Diapasons
Great OD1, OD2, SD
ALLEGRETTO: Cornet; S. Diapason and Flute Choir; Swell
Great SD, Prin, Tw, Fif, Sex; Choir SD, Fl; Swell OD1, SD, Prin, Cor (bars 21-36) Flute Choir
Choir Fl 4 alone
final ADAGIO: Diapasons
Great OD1, OD2, SD
FUGUE — ALLEGRO: [no indication ]
Great OD1, SD, Prin, Tw, Fif; Pedal DD, Unis, Gt/Ped
at bar 97 Great + Sex
7-11 Voluntary XII in C minor/major
ADAGIO: Diapasons
Great OD1, OD2, SD
MAESTOSO: Trumpet; S. Diapason and Flute Bass; Swell
Great SD, Trum; Choir OD, SD, Fl; Swell SD, Trum
CD2
1-2 Voluntary VI in F
LARGO: Full Swell
Swell OD2, SD, Prin, Cor, Ob, Trum
ALLEGRETTO: Diapasons or French Horn; Swell; Flute Choir
Swell OD2, SD, Fr horn; Great SD; Choir Fl 4
3-6 Voluntary VIII in B flat
LARGO: Diapasons
Great OD1, OD2
ANDANTINO: Solo Hautboy; S. Diapason Bass G. Organ; Cremona Choir
Swell SD, Ob; Great SD; Choir SD, Crem; Pedal Unis
ANDANTINO: [no indication ]
Swell OD2, SD
MARCH: Full Organ
Great OD1, SD, Prin, Tw, Fif, Mix, Sex; Swell OD1, OD2, SD, Prin; Pedal DD, Unis, Gt/Ped
LARGO: Full Organ
Great OD1, SD, Prin, Tw, Fif, Mix, Sex, Trum, Clar; Pedal DD, Unis, Trom, Gt/Ped
FUGUE: [no indication ]
Great OD1, SD, Prin, Tw, Fif, Mix; Pedal Unis, Gt/Ped
at bar 165 Great + Sex, Trum, Clar; Pedal + DD, Trom
at bar 203 + Choir OD, SD, Prin, Fif, Choir/Great
A page from Russell’s first set of Voluntaries for the Organ, published in 1804, original engraving.Registrations
Twelve Voluntaries (1812)
12-13 Voluntary IX in B flat
MAESTOSO: Full Organ
Great OD1, OD2, SD, Prin, Tw, Fif, Mix, Sex; Pedal DD, Unis, Gt/Ped
ALLEGRO: [no indication ]
Great OD1, OD2, SD, Prin, Tw, Fif, Mix; Pedal DD, Unis, Gt/Ped
at bar 126 + Sex
at bar 201 + Trum, Clar and Pedal Trom
14-15 Voluntary II in C
LARGO: Stop Diapason and Hautboy;
� Diapasons Great Organ; Pedals
Swell SD, Ob; Great OD2, SD; Pedal Gt/Ped
ALLEGRETTO: Cremona Choir; Diapasons
Great; Swell Hautboy; Pedals
Choir SD, Crem; Great OD2, SD; Swell SD, Ob; Pedal Gt/Ped
16-18 Voluntary I in E minor
LARGHETTO: Diapasons
Great OD2, SD
MAESTOSO: Trumpet; Stop Diapasons & Flute in the Choir Organ; Swell
Great SD, Trum; Choir SD, Fl; Swell OD2, SD, Prin; Pedal Unis
LARGO MAESTOSO: Full Organ
Great OD1, SD, Prin, Fif
19-20 Voluntary X in G
LARGO MAESTOSO: Full Organ
Great OD1, OD2, SD, Prin, Tw, Fif, Mix, Sex, Trum, Clar; Pedal Unis, Gt/Ped
FUGA ALLA CAPELLA — THE SUBJECT
FROM HAYDN: [no indication ]
Great OD1, OD2, SD, Prin, Tw, Fif, Mix;
Pedal Unis, Gt/Ped
at bar 152 + Sex
at bar 175 + Trum, Clar
at bar 199 + Pedal DD
21-23 Voluntary III in D
LARGHETTO: Diapasons
Great OD2, SD
SPIRITOSO: Great Trumpet, Stop Diapason and Flute Choir Organ; Swell
Great SD, Trum; Choir SD, Fl; Swell OD2, SD, Trum bars 48–77 Choir Fl 4 alone
LARGO link: Swell ( p) Swell OD2, SD
MAESTOSO: Full Organ
Great OD1, SD, Prin, Tw, Fif, Mix, Trum, Clar; Pedal Unis, Trom, Gt/Ped
CD3
1-2 Voluntary IV in A minor
LARGO: Full Swell both hands
Swell OD2, SD, Prin, Cor, Trum, Ob (At the close of this movement Russell gives the explicit instruction: “Put in the Trumpet and Hautboy as the � Diapasons, Principal & Cornet are all that are required in the next movement.” )
ALLEGRO: Cornet; Swell Cornet (“The Swell Pedal not to be used in this Movement”); (at bar 15) Flute
Great SD, Prin, Tw, Fif, Sex; Swell OD2, SD, Prin, Cor; Choir SD, Fl bars 15–43 Choir Fl 4 alone
final ADAGIO: Diapasons
Great OD1, OD2, SD
3-5 Voluntary V in F
LARGHETTO: Diapasons
Great OD2, SD
ALLEGRETTO: Solo Cremona; Stop Diapason Bass Great Org; Hautboy
Choir OD, SD, Crem; Great SD; Swell SD, Ob (at bar 33 and bar 91) Two diapasons
Great Organ
Great OD2, SD
FUGATO — SPIRITOSO: Full Organ without the Trumpet
Great OD1, OD2, SD, Prin, Tw, Fif, Mix, Sex
6-7 Voluntary XI in D minor/major
LARGHETTO: Full Organ
Great OD1, OD2, SD, Prin, Tw, Fif, Mix, Sex; Pedal DD, Unis, Gt/Ped
FUGA — ALLEGRO: [no indication]
Great OD1, OD2, SD, Prin, Tw, Fif, Mix; Pedal DD, Unis, Gt/Ped at bar 124 + Sex
8-9 Voluntary VII in A
SICILIANO: Swell. The � Diapasons, Trumpet and Hautboy
Swell OD2, SD, Trum, Ob
ALLEGRETTO MODERATO: Stop
Diapason, Principal and Fifteenth in the Choir Organ
Choir SD, Prin, Fif
10-11 Voluntary VIII in B minor
LARGO MAESTOSO: Full Organ
Great OD1, OD2, SD, Prin, Tw, Fif, Mix; Pedal DD, Unis, Gt/Ped
FUGA ALLA CAPELLA: [no indication]
Great OD2, SD, Prin, Fif; Pedal DD, Unis, Gt/Ped
Registrations
12-14 Voluntary VI in E flat
ANDANTINO: Diapasons; Swell
Great OD1, OD2, SD; Swell OD1, OD2, SD; Pedal Unis, Gt/Ped
ANDANTE VIVACE: French Horn or Diapasons; Cremona Choir; Swell
Swell OD1, OD2, SD, Fr horn; Choir SD, Crem; Great SD (at bar 96) Diapasons add Great OD2
interlude at bar 122 Swell OD1, OD2, SD
A TEMPO GIUSTO: Full Organ
Great OD1, OD2, SD, Prin, Tw, Fif, Mix; Pedal Unis, Gt/Ped
15-16 Voluntary XII in C
LARGO MAESTOSO: Full Organ
Great OD1, OD2, SD, Prin, Tw, Fif, Mix, Sex, Trum, Clar; Pedal DD, Unis, Trom
FUGA — MODERATO: [no indication]
Great OD1, OD2, SD, Prin, Tw, Fif, Mix, Sex; Pedal DD, Unis, Trom, Gt/Ped at bar 84 + Trum, Clar
17-18 Voluntary in G (unpublished)
LARGO: Diapasons
Great OD1, OD2, SD
FUGUE [ALLEGRO]: [Full Organ ]
Great OD1, OD2, SD, Prin, Tw, Fif; Pedal Unis, DD, Gt/Ped at bar 97 + Sex, Mix
A page from the second set of Voluntaries, published in 1812. Note the decorative border and elegant typeface.
John Kitchen is a Senior Lecturer in Music and University Organist in the University of Edinburgh. He also directs the Edinburgh University Singers, and is Director of Music of Old Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church and Edinburgh City Organist (with duties at the Usher Hall). He gives many solo recitals both in the UK and further afield and also plays regularly with several ensembles, covering a wide range of musical styles. In addition, he is much in demand as a continuo player, accompanist, lecturer, writer and reviewer.
John has recorded extensively for both Delphian and Priory Records. Forthcoming projects include a recording of nine keyboard instruments from the recently bequeathed Rodger Mirrey Collection at the University of Edinburgh (Delphian DCD34057).
Early music on Delphian
Instruments from the Russell Collection Vol II
John Kitchen early keyboard instruments
DCD34039
Edinburgh University’s Russell Collection is one of the world’s finest collections of early keyboard instruments. The second volume in John Kitchen’s ongoing project to bring its musical exhibits to life matches music by Handel, Purcell, the Scottish composer Robert Bremner and others including Mozart’s son Franz Xaver with a gloriously vigorous menagerie of spinets, virginals, chamber organs, clavichord and harpsichords.
‘a supreme achievement … Every one a gem, as are Kitchen’s stylishly bright performances’
– The Scotsman, March 2006
William Turner (1651–1740): Sacred Choral Music
Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge
Yorkshire Baroque Soloists
Geoffrey Webber conductor
DCD34028
It is easy to forget that our great English choral tradition was once silenced by Act of Parliament. The restoration of the monarchy in 1660 subsequently ushered in one of the finest periods of English music, though the road to recovery for church music was a slow and difficult one. Turner, in 1660 a precocious nine-year-old, went on to become one of the best-known composers and singers of his day. This disc presents a cross-section of his sacred music, including several premiere recordings, ranging from small-scale liturgical works to one of his grandest creations, the Te Deum and Jubilate in D.
‘Invigorating and highly persuasive … a reminder of the still unknown riches of English Baroque music’
– Gramophone, October 2007
John Kitchen
Back cover: A page of the subscribers’ list from Russell's first set of Voluntaries (London, 1804).
DCD 3 4062